The office of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has contacted the leaders of each parliamentary party in order to arrange face-to-face meetings this week to discuss the specifics of the upcoming bill regarding the Greek Diaspora vote.
The Greek government has pledged to discuss the bill’s particulars with the opposition to arrive at a compromise, in order for the proposed legislation to garner the most support possible from Greek MPs.
According to Greek law, any changes to Greece’s electoral system must be approved by at least 200 out of a total of 300 MPs in order to be enacted with immediate effect.
If the bill is approved by less than 200 MPs, its regulations will be implemented not during the next administration, but the following one, with the next elections currently scheduled for 2027.
Hopes for a broad-based compromise are not high, as the main opposition SYRIZA party has proposed a solution that is miles away from what the New Democracy government envisions for Greek expats’ absentee voting rights.
However, there are members of the Greek government who believe that even if SYRIZA cannot come to an agreement on the voting plan, there is still a chance that the rest of the opposition parties will agree to a compromise, giving the bill its much-needed 200 votes.
These efforts will be focused on the Social Democrats of KINAL and the Communist Party, which, along with SYRIZA, hold a total of 123 votes in the Greek Parliament.
KINAL is believed to be the most likely party to agree with the Government’s absentee-voting plan.
If the Communists eventually come on board with the compromise, the bill has a chance of receiving more than 200 votes, since it is believed that the far-right Greek Solution Party will support the bill regardless.
Prime Minister Mitsotakis will hold his first discussion on the bill with Opposition Leader Alexis Tsipras on Friday, October 11. Mitsotakis will also meet with the leader of the center-left KINAL party, Fofi Gennimata, and the Secretary-General of the Communist Party, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, the same day.
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